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yingwenlaoshi
Joined: 12 Feb 2007
Location: ... location, location!
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 Posted: Sat Jan 05, 2008 2:13 am Post subject: Ice Storm 10th Year Anniversary |
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http://news.sympatico.msn.ca/Home/SafetyCanada/icestorm
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It's January 1998, the deep of winter. Freezing rain has been falling on Quebec for days. Thousands of trees and hydro wires have fallen. One in five residences is without power. Roads, even highways, are impassable. Here's how the nightmare unfolded.
January 5th, and the freezing rain begins to fall on Quebec. The rain turns to ice, coating everything it touches. In the space of five days, 10 centimetres have accumulated in Montreal.
Under the weight of ice, electrical pylons collapse, utility poles and transmission towers fall over, and the streets fill with the debris of falling branches.
Soon municipalities throughout the province are plunged into darkness, some for as long as 30 days. Hardest hit is the "ice triangle," the zone between the towns of Granby, Saint-Hyacinthe and Saint-Jean-sur-le-Richilieu, in Mont�r�gie. Residents are forced to leave their homes. More than 100,000 people take refuge in makeshift public shelters.
On January 8th, the Canadian army is called in to clear the streets and evacuate residents who are without power.
The economy takes a hit. Blackouts force many companies to shut down, and farmers lose livestock in the cold of unheated shelters.
In Montreal, the worst is feared when for several hours two principal water treatment plants are unable to produce drinkable water. Boil water advisories are issued.
Hydro-Quebec calls upon Ontario and the US for help in re-establishing the power network. Emergency electrical crews work day and night to restore shorted transformers and fallen lines.
On February 8th, a full 35 days after the first power outages, electricity is finally returned throughout Quebec.
The government sets up a compensation program for victims of the storm. According to the Insurance Bureau of Canada, 600,000 insurance claims are filed, totaling more than $1 billion.
Millions of trees have been seriously damaged, many of them fruit and maple trees. Quebec's maple sugar industry, the largest in the world, is severely affected.
The Nicolet Commission is formed to investigate the circumstances surrounding the ice storm, and concludes that the Quebec government's emergency system greatly failed.
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I was living in St-Hyacinthe at this time.
Did anyone else live in the triangle then?
I remember only Burger King, Petit Coq (or 'ti(t) coq - can't remember), the big grocery store (IGA?), and Hotel Des Seigneurs were the only things open for pretty much one month. No electricity for one month. Crazy.
The only place you could get money was at IGA and they would only let you take 20 bucks out at at time with your debit card. All the plumbing was frozen. |
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matthews_world
Joined: 15 Feb 2003
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| Posted: Sat Jan 05, 2008 4:40 am Post subject: |
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The central midwest is famous for ice storms that knock out power for up to a week at a time. Although they are not that frequent, maybe one major one ever 2-3 years or so, they are quite burdensome. Trees, terra firma and roads are covered with the stuff.
There was one back in the early 80's where much of the surrounding area was without power for up to a week, and of course, closed schools. Not many families knew of generators back then.
I remember going out to our woodpile, chipping off the frozen ice, and braving the sub-zero temperatures in order supply fuel to our fireplace to keep a 2 meter zone warm, where we kept our blankets at night. Luckily our rural home had a propane tank and we used it to cook with but we couldn't turn on the heat cause it was electrically powered. Fun stuff.
Last edited by matthews_world on Sat Jan 05, 2008 4:43 am; edited 1 time in total |
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crusher_of_heads
Joined: 23 Feb 2007
Location: kimbop and kimchi for kimberly!!!!
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| Posted: Sat Jan 05, 2008 4:42 am Post subject: |
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I was in Ottawa at the time.
A couple of nights without power-urban area so not that bad.
I remember after Day 1 walking p to the local grocer buying whatever I could-fireplace was used a lot as was the phone.
Nobody hurt, no property damage |
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Hanson
Joined: 20 Oct 2004
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| Posted: Sat Jan 05, 2008 4:50 am Post subject: |
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NDG - near Loyola. I was out of power for 8 days, but I was lucky because I was heating with gas at the time, so I could rough it at home...
I was also working at St-Mary's Hospital in Cotes-Des-Neiges and the auditorium served as a temporary shelter for a lot of people - the hospital having a generator. Speaking of generators, I also remember all these people comning in from out of town and selling generators at crazy-inflated prices - which pissed people off.
I vaguely remember someone/some people dying because they tried heating their homes with not-so-safe alternatives.
Trees down all over the place, branches and electrical poles all over the streets, cracking sounds of branches giving way because of the weight of the ice...
10 years already? |
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yingwenlaoshi
Joined: 12 Feb 2007
Location: ... location, location!
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| Posted: Sat Jan 05, 2008 6:39 am Post subject: |
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After it first hit, work was cancelled for a few days until they got a generator. I stayed at my co-worker/friend's until his parents pleaded for us to stay with his uncle in Boucherville every night. They had electricity. So his mom would come pick us up at Burker King every night and then drive us to work in the morning. Can't remember how long we did that for.
One guy was selling candles for 50 bucks a dozen. My friend actually bought some. Idiot. His father gave him *beep* for it, too. What a rip off! We were scrounging around for candles for a while before staying in Boucherville every night. I found a bunch at my place, but many were the decoration kind that emit a lot of black smoke. Not good. We actually tried to make candles with tin plates fill with oil and twine ast the wick. They burned, but the black smoke was too much.
When it all started, it was really strange. It was just at that perfect temperature for it to be so drastic. You wouldn't know there was danger coming since everything was so silent. You couldn't really walk, either. |
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DaeguKid
Joined: 09 Dec 2006
Location: Daegu
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| Posted: Sat Jan 05, 2008 8:17 pm Post subject: |
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Going to school out East, I was flew out from my hometown of Ottawa just before the storm hit. The tail end of the storm hit the Maritimes. It was great in that it made my campus look beautiful. I remember walking to school one morning and the whole campus looked like it was covered in crystal...but needless to say I was happy to have not gone through what everyone back in Ontario/Quebec had to deal with.
50 bucks for candles...that dude deserved a punch in the face for taking advantage of folks like that! |
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yingwenlaoshi
Joined: 12 Feb 2007
Location: ... location, location!
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| Posted: Sat Jan 05, 2008 10:14 pm Post subject: |
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| DaeguKid wrote: |
Going to school out East, I was flew out from my hometown of Ottawa just before the storm hit. The tail end of the storm hit the Maritimes. It was great in that it made my campus look beautiful. I remember walking to school one morning and the whole campus looked like it was covered in crystal...but needless to say I was happy to have not gone through what everyone back in Ontario/Quebec had to deal with.
50 bucks for candles...that dude deserved a punch in the face for taking advantage of folks like that! |
He had some sort of stand set up. I can hardly remember now. I wonder if the police did anything about it. Obviously it wasn't legal. I guess they could've commandeered his candles... |
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Craven Moorehead
Joined: 14 Jan 2006
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| Posted: Sat Jan 05, 2008 11:28 pm Post subject: |
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| DaeguKid wrote: |
| Going to school out East, I was flew out from my hometown of Ottawa just before the storm hit. The tail end of the storm hit the Maritimes. It was great in that it made my campus look beautiful. I remember walking to school one morning and the whole campus looked like it was covered in crystal... |
What campus was that? I remember Acadia being under a thin veneer of ice for sure. |
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DaeguKid
Joined: 09 Dec 2006
Location: Daegu
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| Posted: Sat Jan 05, 2008 11:51 pm Post subject: |
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| Craven Moorehead wrote: |
What campus was that? I remember Acadia being under a thin veneer of ice for sure. |
StFX in the Gish. |
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yingwenlaoshi
Joined: 12 Feb 2007
Location: ... location, location!
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| Posted: Sun Jan 06, 2008 1:11 am Post subject: |
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Here's why the power was out for a month:
Rows of them tumbled down. Saw them every day next to the highway.
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Hanson
Joined: 20 Oct 2004
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| Posted: Sun Jan 06, 2008 2:16 am Post subject: |
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| Great new avatar, ying. Reminds me of the street I lived on at the time. Ice on the elctrical wires, they drooped all over the place. |
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Thiuda
Joined: 14 Mar 2006
Location: Religion ist f�r Sklaven geschaffen, f�r Wesen ohne Geist.
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| Posted: Sun Jan 06, 2008 8:31 am Post subject: |
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| I lived close to Carleton University in Ottawa during the Ice Storm. Fortunately, I had electricity even when virtually no one around me did. I lost the heating in my hundred year old rent-a-home and decided to stay with my father out in the country for two weeks - he didn't have electricity, but he has a great fireplace. |
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